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Spider-Man 3
Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay by Raimi, his older brother Ivan, and Alvin Sargent. It is the third installment in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man_in_film#Sam_Raimi_films Spider-Man film franchise], following Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004). The film stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rosemary Harris, Cliff Robertson, J. K. Simmons, and James Cromwell. It is the highest-grossing Spider-Man film ever made. Following the events of Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker has become a cultural phenomenon as Spider-Man, while Mary Jane Watson continues her Broadway career. Harry Osborn still seeks vengeance for his father's death, and an escaped Flint Marko falls into a particle accelerator and is transformed into a shape-shifting sand manipulator. An extraterrestrial symbiote crashes to Earth and bonds with Peter, negatively influencing his behavior. Development of Spider-Man 3 began immediately after the release of Spider-Man 2 for a 2007 release. During pre-production, Raimi originally wanted another villain to be included along with Sandman. First he considered the Vulture, but at the request of producer Avi Arad, he added Venom, and the producers also requested the addition of Gwen Stacy. Principal photography for the film began in January 2006, and took place in Los Angeles and Cleveland before moving to New York City from May until July 2006. Additional pick-up shots were made after August and the film wrapped in October 2006. During post-production, Sony Pictures Imageworks created 900 visual effects shots. With an estimated production budget of $258 million, it was the most expensive film ever made at the time of its release. Spider-Man 3 premiered on April 16, 2007 in Tokyo, and was released in the United States in both conventional and IMAX theaters on May 4, 2007. The film grossed $890.9 million worldwide, making it the most successful film of the trilogy and the third-highest of 2007. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who responded positively to the musical score, special effects, performances, and action scenes, while less so to aspects of the plot and the use of multiple villains, most notably Venom. A fourth film, titled Spider-Man 4, was set to be released on May 6, 2011 followed by a Venom spin off, but were cancelled due to creative differences between Raimi and the producers. The film series was rebooted twice, first with The Amazing Spider-Man by Marc Webb and later a new film series set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe directed by Jon Watts beginning with Spider-Man: Homecoming. A Venom spin off was eventually released in 2018 directed by Ruben Fleischer. But it is separate from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is set in Sony's Marvel Universe which focuses on Spider-Man’s associated characters and not feature Spider-Man. Plot One year after defeating Doctor Octopus, Peter Parker plans to propose to Mary Jane Watson, who has just made her Broadway musical debut. Later a meteorite lands at Central Park, and an extraterrestrial symbiote follows Peter to his apartment. Harry Osborn, seeking vengeance after his father's death, attacks Peter with weapons based on his father's Green Goblin technology. The battle ends with Harry crashing out and developing amnesia, wiping out his memory of Peter as Spider-Man. Meanwhile, police pursue escaped convict Flint Marko, who visits his wife and dying daughter before fleeing again, and falling into an experimental particle accelerator that fuses his DNA with the surrounding sand, transforming him into the Sandman, with powers to control sand and to deform at will. During a public festival honoring Spider-Man for saving Gwen Stacy's life, he kisses her, infuriating Mary Jane. The super-powered Marko robs an armored car, and Spider-Man confronts him. Marko easily subdues Spider-Man, and escapes. NYPD Captain George Stacy informs Peter and Aunt May that Marko was Uncle Ben's true killer; the deceased Dennis Carradine was Marko's accomplice. As Peter sleeps in his Spider-Man suit waiting for Marko, the symbiote assimilates his suit. Peter later awakens on top of a building, discovering his costume changed and his powers enhanced; however, the symbiote also brings out Peter's dark side. Wearing the new suit, Spider-Man locates Marko and battles him in a subway tunnel. Discovering that water is Marko's weakness, Spider-Man breaks a water pipe, causing water to reduce Marko to mud and wash him away. Peter's changed personality alienates Mary Jane, whose career is floundering, and she finds solace with Harry, but leaves afterwards in regret. Harry recovers from his amnesia and, urged by a hallucination of his father, blackmails Mary Jane into breaking up with Peter. After Mary Jane tells Peter she loves "somebody else", Harry meets with Peter and claims to be "the other guy". Peter confronts Harry about forcing Mary Jane to end her relationship with him and spitefully tells Harry that his father never loved him. Another fight ensues, in which Harry throws a pumpkin bomb at Peter, who deflects it back, disfiguring Harry's face. Peter then exposes rival photographer Eddie Brock, who created photos depicting black-suit Spider-Man as a criminal to get the staff photographer job. Peter proves his plagiarism out of spite, which results in their boss, J. Jonah Jameson, firing Brock, printing out a retraction and giving Brock's job to Peter. Later, to make Mary Jane jealous, Peter brings Gwen to a nightclub, where Mary Jane now works. Realizing this, Gwen leaves the nightclub, and, after being told to leave, Peter attacks a couple of bouncers and he accidentally hits Mary Jane. Peter now realizes how the symbiote is corrupting him. Retreating to a bell tower of a church, Peter removes the symbiote after bumping into a church bell weakens it, which falls below to the floor and bonds with Brock, who in turn, praying for Peter's death, is transformed into Venom. Brock locates Marko and convinces him to join forces to defeat Spider-Man. Posing as a taxi driver, Brock kidnaps Mary Jane, and holds her as bait from a web high above a construction site, while Marko keeps the police at bay. Seeking help, Peter goes to Harry, who rejects him. While Spider-Man battles Brock and Marko, Harry learns the truth about his father's death from his butler, and goes to the construction site to help Peter, resulting in a battle between the four. Harry subdues the Sandman before assisting Peter against Brock. In the ensuing battle, Brock attempts to impale Peter with Harry's glider, but Harry steps in, and is impaled himself. Remembering the symbiote's weakness, Peter assembles a perimeter of metal pipes to create a sonic attack, weakening it, and allowing Peter to separate Brock from the symbiote. Peter activates a pumpkin bomb from Harry's glider and throws it at the symbiote, but Brock, attempting to become Venom again, dives in and is killed along with the symbiote. After the battle, Marko explains that Uncle Ben's death was an accident, and that his uncle was trying to help him. His death has haunted him ever since. Peter forgives Marko, who then leaves. Peter and Mary Jane accompany Harry, who dies peacefully from his injuries. Peter, Mary Jane, and Aunt May attend Harry's funeral. Later, at the nightclub, Peter and Mary Jane reconcile and dance. Cast *Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man: A physics student at Columbia University and freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle, who gets spider-like abilities from a genetically-modified spider and uses them to take up the persona of a spider-based vigilante protecting New York City from its criminal underworld. *Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson: A Broadway actress, and Peter's girlfriend. *James Franco as Harry Osborn / New Goblin: The dedicated son of Norman Osborn and Peter's estranged best friend, who believes Spider-Man murdered his father, but after learning Peter is Spider-Man and his father was the Green Goblin, he tends to battle Peter directly as a psychopathic assassin armed with the same equipment as his father. *Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko / Sandman: A small-time thug with an estranged wife and sick daughter, whose struggle to rob for money to get his daughter treatment lures him into a freak accident that alters him into a master sand manipulator hunted by Spider-Man since he was Ben Parker's true killer. *Topher Grace as Eddie Brock / Venom: A rival Daily Bugle photographer who is exposed by Peter for creating a fake image of Spider-Man and is ready for revenge when he bonds with the symbiote, which turns him into monstrous being with the same spider-like powers. *Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy: Peter's lab partner and good friend, who is saved by Spider-Man from falling to her death. She is also Brock's love interest. *James Cromwell as George Stacy: Gwen's father, and a New York City Police Department captain. *Rosemary Harris as May Parker: Peter's aunt, who gives her nephew her engagement ring so he can propose to Mary Jane, and teaches him forgiveness. *J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson: The aggressive chief of the Daily Bugle, who despises Spider-Man. Theresa Russell plays Emma Marko, Flint's wife, and their daughter Penny Marko is portrayed by Perla Haney-Jardine. Dylan Baker reprises his role as Dr. Curt Connors, Peter's college physics professor. Bill Nunn and Ted Raimi portray Daily Bugle employees Robbie Robertson and Ted Hoffman, and Elizabeth Banks plays Betty Brant, Jameson's receptionist. Willem Dafoe returns as Norman Osborn, who appears to Harry as a hallucination. Cliff Robertson reprises his role as Ben Parker, Peter's deceased uncle; it would be his final film performance. Elya Baskin plays Peter's landlord, Mr. Ditkovitch, while his daughter Ursula is played by Mageina Tovah. Michael Papajohn reprises his role as Dennis Carradine, a carjacker, who was believed to have murdered Ben. Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee has a cameo appearance in Spider-Man 3, as he does in many Marvel-based films.[6] He plays a man who tells Peter that one person can make a difference. As with the previous two films, Bruce Campbell cameos as a French maître d' who tries helping Peter propose to Mary Jane. Years later, Jeffrey Henderson, who worked on the storyboards for the canceled Spider-Man 4''movie, released information regarding which villains would appear within the movie. One of those included Bruce Campbell's character's progression into Quentin Beck / Mysterio.[7][8] Composer Christopher Young appears in the film as a pianist at Mary Jane's theater, while producer Grant Curtis appears as a driver of an armored car that the Sandman attacks.[9] Joe Manganiello reprises his role as Flash Thompson. Production 'Development' "The most important thing Peter right now has to learn is that this whole concept of him as the avenger or him as the hero, he wears this red and blue outfit, with each criminal he brings to justice he's trying to pay down this debt of guilt he feels about the death of Uncle Ben. He considers himself a hero and a sinless person versus these villains that he nabs. We felt it would be a great thing for him to learn a little less black and white view of life and that he's not above these people." —Sam Raimi, on how the character of Peter Parker developed in this film[10] In March 2004, with ''Spider-Man 2 being released the coming June, Sony had begun developing Spider-Man 3 for a release in summer 2007. [11] By the release of Spider-Man 2, a release date for Spider-Man 3 had been set for May 2, 2007 before production on the sequel had begun.[12] The date was later changed to May 4, 2007. In January 2005, Sony Pictures Entertainment completed a seven-figure deal with screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who had penned Spider-Man 2, to work on Spider-Man 3 with an option to write a fourth film.[13] Immediately after Spider-Man 2's release, Ivan Raimi wrote a treatment over two months,[14] with Sam Raimi deciding to use the film to explore Peter learning that he is not a sinless vigilante, and that there also can be humanity in those he considers criminals.[10] Harry Osborn was brought back as Raimi wanted to conclude his storyline.[10] Raimi felt that Harry would not follow his father's legacy, but be instead "somewhere between."[15] Sandman was introduced as an antagonist, as Raimi found him a visually fascinating character.[10] While Sandman is a petty criminal in the comics, the screenwriters created a background of the character being Uncle Ben's killer to increase Peter's guilt over his death[16] and challenge his simplistic perception of the event.[10] Overall, Raimi described the film as being about Peter, Mary Jane, Harry, and the Sandman,[17] with Peter's journey being one of forgiveness.[18] Raimi wanted another villain, and Ben Kingsley was involved in negotiations to play the Vulture before the character was cut.[14] Producer Avi Arad convinced Raimi to include Venom, a character whose perceived "lack of humanity" had initially been criticized by Sam Raimi.[19] Venom's alter-ego, Eddie Brock, already had a minor role in the script.[20] Arad felt the series had relied too much on Raimi's personal favorite Spider-Man villains, not characters that modern fans were actually interested in, so Raimi included Venom to please them,[17] and even began to appreciate the character himself.[19] The film's version of the character is an amalgamation of Venom stories. Eddie Brock, Jr., the human part of Venom, serves as a mirror to Peter Parker, with both characters having similar jobs and romantic interests.[19] Brock's actions as a journalist in Spider-Man 3 also represent contemporary themes of paparazzi and tabloid journalism.[21] The producers also suggested adding rival love interest Gwen Stacy, filling in an "other girl" type that Raimi already created.[17] With so many additions, Sargent soon found his script so complex that he considered splitting it into two films, but abandoned the idea when he could not create a successful intermediate climax.[14] 'Filming' Camera crews spent 2 weeks from November 5–18, 2005 to film sequences that would involve intense visual effects so Sony Pictures Imageworks could begin work on the shots early in the project. The same steps had been taken for Spider-Man 2 to begin producing visual effects early for sequences involving the villain Doctor Octopus.[22] Principal photography for Spider-Man 3 began on January 16, 2006 and wrapped in July 2006 after over 100 days of filming. The team filmed in Los Angeles until May 19, 2006.[22] In spring 2006, film location managerPeter Martorano brought camera crews to Cleveland[23] due to the Greater Cleveland Film Commission offering production space at the city's convention center at no cost.[24] In Cleveland, they shot the battle between Spider-Man and Sandman in the armored car.[14] Afterwards, the team moved to Manhattan, where filming took place at various locations, including One Chase Manhattan Plaza, from May 26, 2006 until July 1, 2006.[22]Shooting placed a strain on Raimi, who often had to move between several units to complete the picture.[14] Shooting was also difficult for cinematographer Bill Pope, as the symbiote Spider-Man, Venom, and the New Goblin were costumed in black during fight scenes taking place at night.[25] After August, pick-ups were conducted as Raimi sought to film more action scenes.[26] The film then wrapped in October, although additional special effects shots were taken to finalize the production a month later.[27] In early 2007, there were further pick-up shots regarding the resolution of Sandman's story, amounting to four different versions.[28] 'Visual effects' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dykstrathumb|Spider-Man, throws a computer-generated punch through the chest of Sandman, portrayed by Thomas Haden Church.|link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_DykstraJohn Dykstra, who won the Academy Award for Visual Effects for his work on Spider-Man 2, declined to work on the third film as visual effects supervisor. Dykstra's colleague, Scott Stokdyk, took his place as supervisor,[29] leading two hundred programmers at Sony Pictures Imageworks. This group designed specific computer programs that did not exist when Spider-Man 3 began production, creating nine hundred visual effects shots.[30]thumb|, throws a computer-generated punch through the chest of , portrayed by .|link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dykstra John Dykstra, who won the Academy Award for Visual Effects for his work on Spider-Man 2, declined to work on the third film as visual effects supervisor. Dykstra's colleague, Scott Stokdyk, took his place as supervisor,[29] leading two hundred programmers at Sony Pictures Imageworks. This group designed specific computer programs that did not exist when Spider-Man 3 began production, creating nine hundred visual effects shots.[30]thumb|, throws a computer-generated punch through the chest of , portrayed by .|link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dykstra, who won the Academy Award for Visual Effects for his work on Spider-Man 2, declined to work on the third film as visual effects supervisor. Dykstra's colleague, Scott Stokdyk, took his place as supervisor,[29] leading two hundred programmers at Sony Pictures Imageworks. This group designed specific computer programs that did not exist when Spider-Man 3 began production, creating nine hundred visual effects shots.[30]thumb|, throws a computer-generated punch through the chest of , portrayed by .|link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dykstra John Dykstra, who won the Academy Award for Visual Effects for his work on Spider-Man 2, declined to work on the third film as visual effects supervisor. Dykstra's colleague, Scott Stokdyk, took his place as supervisor,[29] leading two hundred programmers at Sony Pictures Imageworks. This group designed specific computer programs that did not exist when Spider-Man 3 began production, creating nine hundred visual effects shots.[30] suit, which possesses a webbing motif, unlike the comics, in order to show the symbiote's control and represent the character as a twisted foil to Spider-Man.]]In addition to the innovative visual effects for the film, Stokdyk created a miniature of a skyscraper section at 1:16 scale with New Deal Studios's Ian Hunterand David Sanger. Stokdyk chose to design the miniature instead of using computer-generated imagery so damage done to the building could be portrayed realistically and timely without guesswork involving computer models.[31] In addition, to Sony Pictures Imageworks, Cafe FX provided visual effects for the crane disaster scene when Spider-Man rescues Gwen Stacy, as well as shots in the climactic battle.[32] To understand the effects of sand for the Sandman, experiments were done with twelve types of sand, such as splashing, launching it at stuntmen, and pouring it over ledges. The results were mimicked on the computer to create the visual effects for Sandman.[30] For scenes involving visual effects, Thomas Haden Church was super-imposed onto the screen, where computer-generated imagery was then applied.[33] With sand as a possible hazard in scenes that buried actors, ground-up corncobs were used as a substitute instead.[34] Because of its resemblance to the substance, sand from Arizona was used as the model for the CG sand.[30] In a fight where Spider-Man punches through Sandman's chest, amputee martial arts expert Baxter Humby took Tobey Maguire's place in filming the scene. Humby, whose right hand was amputated at birth, helped deliver the intended effect of punching through Sandman's chest.[35] Whereas the symbiote suit worn in the comics by Spider-Man was a plain black affair with a large white spider on the front and back, the design was changed for the film to become a black version of Spider-Man's traditional costume, complete with webbing motif. As a consequence of this, the suit Topher Grace wore as Venom also bore the webbing motif; as producer Grant Curtis noted, "it's the Spider-Man suit, but twisted and mangled in its own right."[36] Additionally, the motif gave a sense of life to the symbiote, giving it the appearance of gripping onto the character's body.[37]When animating the symbiote, Raimi did not want it to resemble a spider or an octopus, and to give it a sense of character. The CG model is made of many separate strands.[38] When animating Venom himself, animators observed footage of big cats such as lions and cheetahs for the character's agile movements.[39] Music Main article: Music from and Inspired by Spider-Man 3 Category:2007 films Category:Columbia Pictures films Category:Sony Pictures Entertainment Films Category:IMAX films Category:Films set in 2005 Category:Films set in Manhattan Category:Films set in New York City